Man held over smashed museum vases

Nick Flynn, who smashed three Qing dynasty vases into more than 400 pieces. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

A museum visitor who smashed three 17th century Chinese porcelain vases thought to be worth £500,000 was arrested today on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

After the incident at the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge in January, Nick Flynn, 42, said he had tripped over a shoelace by accident, tumbled down a staircase and crashed into the Qing dynasty ceramics.

He was photographed lying amid the shattered vases immediately after what he later called "my Norman Wisdom moment".

The vases dated from the last years of the reign of the emperor Kangxi (1662-1722), and were painted in enamels with traces of gilding.

A specialist restorer who has been gluing together more than 400 pieces to recreate the three said there was a chance one of them could be back on show by June at an exhibition in the museum.

Mr Flynn, from Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, was arrested at his home this morning.

"A 42-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage in connection with an incident at the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge on January 25," a police spokesman said.

The museum's director, Duncan Robinson, said last week it was difficult to gauge an accurate value for the vases, but he thought they were probably worth around £500,000.

He said they were not insured, and the museum would be looking at reviewing its insurance policy in the light of what had happened.

Mr Robinson denied that Mr Flynn had been banned from the museum, but added that staff had thought it wise he should stay away in the immediate aftermath of the incident.